COMMERCE CITY, CO - JANUARY 10: Kalis Allen, 6, center wearing a black leotard, dances down the floor with her ballet and tap class at Commerce City Recreation Center on January 10, 2014, in Commerce City, Colorado.

COMMERCE CITY, CO - JANUARY 10: Ashlyn Macelky, 8, right, practices a move during a ballet and tap dance class at the Commerce City Recreation Center on January 10, 2014, in Commerce City, Colorado. The current recreation center will undergo renovations, and a new building is scheduled to begin construction later this year.

Eight little girls wearing leggings and leotards hustled over to the small carpeted area where their parents were watching them practice. They threw off their ballet slippers and pushed their feet into dainty black tap shoes.

As they clopped back onto the lacquered dance floor on Jan. 10, their tap and ballet instructor, Shannon Cwik, told them to stick their arms out and space themselves far enough away from each other so that their fingers didn’t touch.

The students scooted apart on each side and then back some and forward a bit more. When all eight dancers were spread across the floor, not touching, there was no more room.

“Eight students is a full class for us,” said Misty Gowdy, Commerce City recreation coordinator. “It’s kind of an awkward space, so we can’t let (the class) get too big.”

When people who are not wearing dance shoes enter the one and only dance studio in the recreation center at 6060 E. Parkway Drive, there’s no way to not scuff the floor. The carpeted island at the end of the room where parents were observing their daughters is across solid wood dance planks in the compact “half-room.”

“That back wall is an accordion wall — it’s shared,” Gowdy said. “The other side is a banquet room and sometimes there are scheduling conflicts with people holding conferences there.”

For Gowdy, dance class scheduling can be a problem because of the many tight space constraints and many interested participants. She packs classes in from 5-9:30 p.m., five days a week.

“Every now and then we find ourselves in the predicament where that space gets rented out to a large group of people who don’t want to compete with the music,” Gowdy said. “We get a clash going on and many of our dance classes end up in the racquetball court.”

The Commerce City rec center is 67,000 square feet. There is parking in the front of the building for about 25 cars.

“Our current recreation center serves 10,000 people a year through a variety of classes and activities and programs,” said Michelle Halstead, spokeswoman for Commerce City. “We truly just need more space, and that’s what people recognized with the creation of the 2K project.”

Commerce City’s 2K ballot initiative passed on a near 50/50 split last November. The “penny tax” as it’s called, is a 1 percent, permanent tax increase that will fund five major development projects chosen collaboratively by residents and city officials.

Two of those projects are dedicated entirely to expanding rec center space specifically.

“The need for space to grow these (recreational) programs is a top priority,” Halstead said. “Our Zumba classes, for example, are so popular that we’re doing them in the third gym because we don’t have a room that is big enough.”

She said there are 11,249 people enrolled in classes and programs at the rec center this year. That’s up 12 percent from last year.

Once they accrue, funds from the penny tax will pay for the creation of a brand new rec center in north Commerce City, off the 104th corridor, called Second Creek.

The Second Creek Recreation Center will begin construction this year. Total infrastructure costs are $22 million, and the center itself will cost $35.8 million. It should be complete in 2017.

The old rec center will undergo about $7 million in renovations, which will also be complete in 2017. Some additions to the center will be family locker rooms, a therapy pool and maybe even a real wall for the lone dance studio.

“We’d like to create a more out-of-sight space for the parents to watch without being crowded or distracting the students in here,” Gowdy said. “The gymnastics class has grown so large that 50 girls can be in the room at once. When parents come to watch, they find seats on balance beams and vaults.”

Gowdy has worked at the Commerce City Recreation Center for 15 years. In that time, she has seen the demand for space grow.

“This is a great space, and it’s served the community well over the years, but we’re outgrowing it,” she said. “We need to expand in order to keep offer the same quality of programs and services. That’s why this is so exciting.”

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